Judge Murphy and Ben Hutchinson each tallied four goals and the Saints broke out to an early lead, but the third-ranked RIT Tigers rallied in the third quarter to defeat the No. 12 St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team 21-15 on Saturday afternoon in Rochester, N.Y.

Ben Hutchinson added an assist and three ground balls, while Murphy added three assists. Bobby Wells scored twice, while Mark Mahoney, Zadoc White, Stew Hutchinson, Paddy Condon and John Mahoney all scored once. Stew Hutchinson finished with four assists, while Mark Mahoney caused two turnovers. Condon went 29-for-38 from the faceoff circle.

Wells notched the first of the game for the Scarlet and Brown, just 36 seconds into play, but the Tigers quickly responded with back-to-back goals from Luke Pilcher, giving RIT a 2-1 lead. The Saints offense then sparked a four-goal run with Wells' second of the game and a man-up goal from Ben Hutchinson to take a 5-2 lead.

RIT added two more to close the first quarter and the Saints held on to a 5-4 advantage after the first 15 minutes of play. The first seven goals combined were all scored in the first five minutes of the first quarter.

Pilcher scored his fourth of the game at 11:48 of the second, tying the game up at 5-5. The game would be a back-and-forth battle from there, getting tied up at six, seven and eight. The Tigers eventually led 10-8, but a man-up tally from Ben Hutchinson brought the Saints back within one before halftime.

Out of the break, the Saints struck first after a scramble outside of the crease, as Mark Mahoney capitalized for his first of the game to tie the game 10-10.

The Tigers rallied in the second half and outscored the Saints 7-2 in the third quarter to build a 17-11 lead.

St. Lawrence and RIT each scored four goals in the fourth frame, with two goals coming from Murphy and one from White and one from Condon. The Tigers held onto their lead built in the third for the win to remain undefeated in league play.

"I really liked our energy and fight today," said head coach Mike Mahoney. "We will need to build on that and be ready for the postseason on Tuesday."

Pilcher led the Tigers with nine goals and three ground balls, while Dylan Bruno finished with three goals.

Michael Marinello recorded 13 saves for St. Lawrence, while Will Sterrett made 12 saves for RIT.

Both teams finished with 46 shots each, while the Saints held a 34-27 edge in shots on goal. RIT picked up 24 ground balls to the Saints' 17 and St. Lawrence dominated the faceoff circle 29-10.

The Saints fell to 11-5 overall and 3-4 in conference play, while RIT improved to 16-1 and 7-0.

St. Lawrence earned the fifth seed in the upcoming Liberty League tournament and will travel across town to face fourth-seeded Clarkson on Tuesday, May 2. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m.